ROB PAGE today provided Town with a major tonic by insisting: “I want to stay – whoever takes over as manager.”

The former Welsh international, made captain by caretaker boss Gerry Murphy, revealed he had started contract talks with Andy Ritchie, who signed him on a short-term deal after his release by Coventry in January.

And while accepting Ritchie’s departure means those discussions will now mean nothing, the 33-year-old centre-back revealed: “My stance hasn’t changed. I like this club and I want to be part of its future.

“Obviously my future is down to the wishes of the next manager, but hopefully he’ll want to me to stay and when the time comes, we can sit down and try and sort something out.”

Page, making his 16th appearance, was a key performer as Town and Doncaster fought out a 2-2 draw at the Galpharm on Saturday.

Town twice led, through Robbie Williams (seventh minute) and Andy Holdsworth (60th), but Doncaster, whose first leveller came from Gareth Taylor in the 52nd minute, squared the game through Paul Green in the 84th despite being down to 10 men, centre-back Matthew Mills having been shown a straight red for a professional foul on Chris Brandon which led to the free-kick from which Holdsworth netted.

Handed the armband in place of Jon Worthington, Page was part of a new-look 3-5-2 formation and said: “I was honoured to skipper Huddersfield Town but disappointed we didn’t win the match.

“Gerry Murphy got Jon Worthington in earlier in the week and said he thought it better for him to give up the captaincy for the time being in order to focus on his football.

“He then pulled me in and asked me to take over and I was only too happy to accept. It’s a job I’ve done at other clubs and one I enjoy.

“I have to say I thought Worthy had one of his best games since I’ve been here, but then the team performed well as a whole.

“After being so bad at Oldham, I thought we deserved to beat one of the best teams in the division, and at times, we played them off the park.

“We created some great chances, especially in the first half, and it showed what a difference a week can make.

“Obviously there has been a lot of upheaval at the club, but Gerry Murphy has stepped in, made it clear exactly what he wants and expects, and done some hard work with us in training.”

Murphy is no stranger to a stalemate, with four of his six games as caretaker manager last season ending that way.

But the latest draw, which came in front of a 10,279 crowd (2,379 from Doncaster) was only Town’s fifth this season, and left them 14th in League I. Doncaster are third.